Well another year has gone by. I don't know if it is just me or if others feel this way but I really felt like this year flew by. I felt like we just kept going, going, and going and the time just zipped passed us. I probably say this every year but I really felt it this year. I seemed to always be behind on things I was supposed to do and I never really got the things done that I wanted to.
On the plus side though, we did have some fun times this year. We started the year off right with a trip to Disneyland. The kids absolutely loved this and still talk about it to this day. They are always asking when we can go back.
In February, Logan turned six. He is really growing up and getting bigger. Logan loves life and everyone he meets. He is our social kid and is very aware of others feelings. He is learning a lot in school and is becoming quite a good reader.
March was a busy month. Colby turned eight and started preparing to be baptized. This boy is also growing up too fast. Colby is our level headed child. He likes things a certain way and makes sure they go that way. He is very aware of situations and quite serious. He does like to have fun though and I love his personality. Also in March we attended Cassie and Jakob's wedding and Braden's mission farewell. We love supporting our family members. On sad thing that happened in March was our dear Grandpa Maxwell passed away. We loved that man so much and he will definitely be missed.
In April, Colby was able to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This was an amazing experience watching Colby get baptized. He had been looking forward to this for quite a while and was so happy to finally be baptized. We hosted a lot of family that weekend and it was a lot of fun having everyone around.
In May, Emily broke her arm when she fell while running. She was so sad about it but, fortunately, it healed quickly in a few weeks. Russell was also promoted in his job. He is now an Firefighter Engineer which means he drives the fire truck and makes sure the other fire fighters have the right amount of water and pressure to fight the fire. He was enthusiastic about this promotion which came a year earlier than he expected.
June started our favorite time of year, summer! We filled June with baseball games, camping, going to the Manti pageant for the last time, and Cub Scout Day Camps. In July we continued our summer fun by doing a lot of camping. Also in July we took an unforgettable trip to Glacier National Park and Canada. This trip was the highlight of our summer and one we will definitely remember for years to come. We want to plan another trip there someday.
In August we did a lot of Kayaking and spending time at the lake. We had to get in our last few adventures before school started again. This year the kids started 5th, 3rd, and 1st grade. They are gone all day now so Charlotte and I spend the day together.
September was another busy month full of birthdays and weddings. Charlotte turned three this year. She is our little spoiled child. She gets whatever she wants. I know this is a bad habit but when she gives you that smile and says, "Pleeaase?" how can we say no. And she throws a major fit if we say no so there is that. What have we done to ourselves? Emily turned eleven this year. She is growing up way too fast. I miss my little girl but Emily is turning into an amazing big girl. She is willing to help around the house and is very smart in school too. She wants to start babysitting kids so she has been a big help with watching her brothers and sister while I run short errands. We also attended Tyler and Ashley's wedding this month. It was awesome to see Tyler finally tie the knot and see how happy he was while doing it. We are excited to get to know Ashley more and welcome her into the family.
October came and went with a flash. I accomplished my resolution of running the St. George Marathon. This was something I had been working toward all year. Colby won first place in his pinewood derby, and played flag football for the first time. We also celebrated a fun Halloween in our spooky costumes.
November was full of basketball games every Saturday. We also put the finishing touches on Emily's new room downstairs which she loves. We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Phillips clan and enjoyed every moment.
Finally we come to December. This month we celebrated Christmas and the birth and life of our Savior. We also reflected on the past year and tried to decided how we had done with our goals.
I feel like I accomplished a few of my goals but let others slack. I had four goals last year. First, Educational: Read 20 books. I was actually able to finish 42 books last year. However, I had hoped to read some non-fiction or faith based books and I did not do that. The ones I read were mostly novels... Second, Physical: Run a half and full marathon and eat healthier. Well I did run a marathon and two half marathons. However, the eating healthier part I kind of slacked off.
Third, Spiritual: Read the New Testament and the Come, Follow Me lessons. I was able to do this goal. I read the New Testament and Come, Follow Me. I really liked learning more about the Savior's life and teaching and remembering some of the things I learned in Seminary. One thing I wish I would have done better though is to spend more time in the scriptures. It seemed like I was always behind the lessons so I would hurry and read really fast and cram in a bunch of chapters to get caught back up. I was also not very good at doing family scripture study because I felt like I needed to get control of my own study and reading before I could help my family. I hope to be better about that in the future.
Fourth, Social: Be more aware of others needs. I feel like I totally failed this one. I don't know if I am selfish, a hermit, or what but I have a hard time going out of my comfort zone. Also, like I said before, I felt like I was always behind and scrambling to get things done this year. I felt like if I could just get my act together, then I could help others. I know this is the wrong mindset but I do need to be better at this in the future. So there you have it, my goals for last year.
Well on to the New Year and turning over a new leaf. For New Year's Eve, we invited some friends to come over for games and snacks. The Checketts and the Sunada's came over and we all had a great time. We just had everyone bring snacks to munch on throughout the night. Emily was so excited to try out her Chocolate Fountain. This was the main hit of the party especially with the kids. We all dipped strawberries, bananas, rice crispy treats, pretzels, and graham crackers in the chocolate. It was so good!
And Russell put his smoker together and smoked us some delicious ribs! As you can see, they were a big hit because by the time I got a picture taken, they were almost gone. Russell worked all day on these ribs and his mouth was watering the whole time because he could not wait to taste them. They were very good! Russell has been looking up recipes and watching YouTube videos on how to smoke different things. He cannot wait to smoke something again.
We played a lot of fun games that night. When the clock struck midnight we all ran out of the house into the cold and yelled "Happy New Year!!!" 2020 here we come!
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